Election Law

Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker denied the request from attorneys for Secretary of State Cord Byrd in a lawsuit challenging the 2023 law.

A federal judge says restrictions on after-hour drop boxes may make it inconvenient to return ballots outside business hours, but they don’t keep Floridians from voting.

The issues involved parts of the law that imposed new restrictions on mail-in ballot drop boxes and voter-registration groups.

In part of a series of legal battles about Florida election-law changes, a three-judge panel of a federal appeals court on Thursday heard arguments in a challenge to a 2023 law that imposed restrictions on groups that collect voter-registration applications.

He paused parts of the law that would prevent non-U.S. citizens from “collecting or handling” voter-registration applications and make it a felony for voter-registration group workers to keep personal information of voters.

They include laws on abortion, affordable housing, the death penalty, immigration and LGBTQ+ issues.

Democrats say the legislation would curb voter registration efforts, especially for people of color and felons who have completed their sentences.

A 98-page elections bill filed by Republicans in the Florida Senate would place additional restrictions on voter registration groups.

Legislators have already passed bills that allow for permitless gun garry, and allowing every student to be eligible for taxpayer-funded school vouchers.

A 98-page elections bill that was filed a day before getting its first committee hearing cleared the Florida Senate Ethics and Elections Committee on Wednesday.

The Senate bill immediately drew criticism Monday from Rep. Anna Eskamani, an Orlando Democrat who called it “absurd to drop a 98-page elections bill with just a 24-hour notice for its first hearing.”

Republicans say the program would help migrants by taking them to sanctuary cities. Democrats say it as a political stunt meant to serve the governor’s national political ambitions.